HDWS

Huntingdon and District Wargames Society

How It Started

by Paul Rogers (Founder Member)

In June 1973 I moved to a new job in Huntingdon and a
new home in Brampton. My wife of two years had, by then,
become accustomed to my hobbies which she, somewhat
irreverently, described as “strumming guitars” and “playing
with toy soldiers”.

I had been fascinated with model soldiers since my
father bought me a pack of the Airfix Infanty Combat Group
at the age of eleven. Many similar boxes later I discovered
metal 25mm figures and began to amass Greek and Achaemenid
Persian armies from companies such as Garrison and Hinton
Hunt. My gaming was almost entirely solo as my experience
of visiting clubs had not been a happy one. Any sign of
welcome was sadly lacking and the existing members seemed
to spend more time arguing about rules than enjoying their
game.

I decided then to explore the possibility of getting
together a group of like-minded gamers who could meet
regularly, share their individual enthusiasm for different
periods of warfare and, most of all, have fun! The first
step was to place an advert in the Hunts Post and await any
response. I think I received five replies including one
from a gentleman who wished me well but felt he could no
longer indulge in “such militaristic activity”.
Fortunately, the other four were more enthusiastic. One of
these responses was from Colin Lord who was then the
landlord of the Green Man public house at Leighton
Bromswold. I went to meet him and formed a friendship which
lasts to the present day. Colin occasionally arranged large
Napoleonic games after closing time on Sundays and knew of
other gamers in the area and so the numbers increased to
about eight. Amongst Colin’s friends was Peter Batham, a
toxicologist at Huntingdon Research Centre (now Huntingdon
Life Sciences), a contact which had a great influence on
the future development of what had then become known as
Huntingdon and District Wargames Society.

It is often difficult to remember when one first met
individuals but I know that early members included Gordon
Smith ( the most affable Police Officer ever to wield a
truncheon) and David Hathaway whose painting skills filled
me with envy. The games took place either at my house or
The Green Man but that was soon to change. Peter Batham
reported back that several of his colleagues were
interested in joining and that there was a possibility of
our being provided with a regular meeting place. At that
time Huntingdon Research Centre had its Social Club in
Cromwell House, High Street, Huntingdon. After a little
negotiation, the company agreed to let us have the use of a
room on the first floor of the building where we could
leave tables set up permanently and store scenery and
figures safely from week to week. On the basis that several
employees were members, the Society became “affiliated” to
HRC and we had access to the downstairs bar at discounted
prices. It was about as near to “Wargamers’ Heaven” as we
could aspire.

Initially, many of the games were “Ancients” using
Wargames Research Group’s Third Edition rules. We all
equipped ourselves with clipboards and score sheets to take
off one figure per twenty hits and carry the remainder and,
as usual, ignored the complex morale tables in order to
finish a game in an evening. Interest then developed in the
English Civil War and I wrote a set of rules whilst members
feverishly painted hordes of cavalry, musketeers and
pikemen. We organised a knock-out tournament and, as rule
writer, I was considered to be a favourite. It was not to
be as, in the second round, I faced Gordon Smith . The
games were played over eight moves with the winner being
the player who inflicted more casualties. As we set up,
Gordon positioned all his forces in the extreme corner of
the table and fired his artillery piece, causing three
casualties. I had no artillery and then realised that none
of my troops could actually reach him in eight moves!

One other tradition was playing a “comedy” game just
before the Christmas break. The game that sticks in my mind
was between an Arab Conquest army led by a wizard whose
spells could backfire disastrously and a Scottish army of
the Civil War. The latter included a converted figure known
as Hamish McFlasher. This individual was periodically
allowed to raise his kilt at the opposition. Any Arab unit
within range then had to test for “sexual alignment” and,
depending on the result, would either charge or rout- all
very silly but most enjoyable when accompanied by copious
amounts of beer and wine.

There are too many other memories to recount here but
they include the release of the first Minifigs 15mm.
figures in strips of five infantry or three cavalry. They
were basic by today’s standards but David Hathaway managed
to produce a beautifully painted British army of the Seven
Years War although, being David, it did contain an awful
lot of elite troops! These figures still form the bulk of
my Prussians and Austrians. One evening saw a game played
to the sounds of a Hen Night in the bar below including
screams and shouts at the male stripper which would have
done credit to a Galatian warband.

Running a legal firm and family commitments eventually
caused my attendance to reduce and then cease but I am
pleased to have been there at the beginning and to know
that the Society flourishes with more members than I would
have thought possible. I am sure those original aims are
still being met and that, most of all, it is a community of
friends having fun.